OTHER WORK
I am a graphic designer and marketing communications professional. I also am a man of many hats:
I am husband, father of seven, follower of Jesus, musician, aspiring writer, sometimes public speaker, agrarian, local food and ecological agriculture advocate, artist, and lover of God’s creation.
I also have been an event organizer for the local food movement for over a decade as the founder and now president of the non-profit organization Land & Table.
I occasionally do interviews and public speaking on issues related to the local food movement, food and faith, ecological agriculture, and whole-life Christian faith. See below for several videos of talks or interviews I have given over the years. There have been a handful of other talks I have given to both large and small audiences but not all were recorded.
The Good Dirt Podcast | Building Community Through Food
March 2022
In March 2022 I was featured on episode 82 of The Good Dirt Podcast by Lady Farmer. In the interview I tell the story of how Land & Table was formed as a grassroots network over a decade ago. I discuss some of my family’s personal journey to farm living, the importance of eating local, and why the potluck is a perfect paradigm for local community.
John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics |
Food, Religion, and Politics Symposium
April 2014
In April 2014 I was invited to a panel discussion at the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. The symposium was lead by titled: ‘Food, Religion, and Politics: A Conversation on Contemporary Issues in the U.S.’ (see video transcript here) Five panelists were invited, all bringing a unique perspective on food and faith issues either from an academic or practitioner context. I spoke about my conversion to rural farm living, Sustainable Traditions, a blog I ran on whole life discipleship to Jesus, and also Land & Table – at that time it was only a grassroots community and not yet a non-profit. After each of us presented about our unique experiences and projects we engaged in a lively discussion about the intersection of food, justice, belief, and the need to reform the U.S. food system.
The panel discussion was moderated by Rachel Gross, Dissertation Completion Fellow with the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University in St. Louis and PhD candidate, Princeton University. Panelists included: myself, Karen Adelman, Saul’s Deli; Rev. Dr. Jennifer Ayres, Emory University; Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz, Uri L’Tzedek; and Benjamin Zeller, Lake Forest College.